Saturday, September 8, 2007

Following are some of the major mergers and acquisitions of some of the major brokerage firms. Also inclusive are important alliances as well as interesting connections to different industries, also included are CEOs of these corporations.

Schwab, a relatively new company (1970), hasn’t had any significant mergers to date. 1980-1983- BankAmerica Corp. buys Schwab. 1987- Charles Schwab (person) buys it back from BankAmerica Corp. and takes it public. 2001- Establishes an alliance with TD Waterhouse to acquire Aitken Campbell, (a Scottish marketing firm). Schwab has resolved to be “different” from its competitors, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, et al. They want to be a more personal brokerage firm, encouraging personal advisors and resisting the merger movement in the financial industry.

-Info from http://www.businessweek.com/1998/21/b3579181.htm concerning business ideals and resisting mergers, for more info on Schwab visit this site.

Charles Barney and Edward Smith combine their firms in the 1800s. 1987- First major deal in company history, Primerica Corp. buys Smith Barney and Harris Upham & Co. Inc. 1993 July- Smith Barney operations combined with Shearson Lehman Brothers within the Primerica Corp. 1993 December- Smith Barney becomes subsidiary of Traveler’s Group after Primerica’s acquisition of the Traveler’s Corp. 1997- Smith Barney Holdings Inc. combined with Salomon Inc. and becomes known as Salomon Smith Barney Holdings Inc. 1998- Citicorp and Traveler’s Croup merge to create Citigroup, this is one of the largest if not the largest merger within the financial industry. This merger includes Citibank, Salomon Smith Barney, Traveler’s Insurance, Primerica Corp, and Commercial Credit (CitiFinancial).

-For info on Citigroup and its subsidiaries see http://www.citigroup.com/

-For Salomon Smith Barney company information see their homepage http://www.salomonsmithbarney.com/ or http://www.forbes.com/